Banana Almond Muffins

For me, it was when we had breakfast at Ventana. They have gluten-free breads and pastries – when I saw they had apple-cinnamon muffins, I was scary excited.

I love muffins and always seem to forget about them when I’m at the store. When I’m baking, I like to make “real” dessert (like cupcakes or pizookies)- muffins are more like in-betweeners. The browning bananas on the counter were begging to be baked,

so I made a batch of muffins to freeze and enjoy over the next couple of weeks.

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Banana Almond Muffins

gluten-free, veganizable

Makes 12

-1 C almond meal

-1 C brown rice flour (or whole wheat)

-1 t cinnamon

-1 t baking powder

-1/8 t nutmeg

-pinch sea salt

-3 ripe, mashed bananas

-6 oz yogurt (or canola oil)

-1 large egg (or flax egg)

-1/4 C honey (or liquid sweetener of choice)

-1 t vanilla extract

-1 t molasses (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350*. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

While I was making the muffins, I also put together a quick batch of cheesy zucchini bites (using this cheese sauce and sliced zucchini). The original plan was to make kale chips, too, but my lovely bunch of kale had grey bugs crawling into between the leafy crevices. Before I knew the bugs were there, I washed the kale well, tore off chip-sized pieces and was about to pour the cheese sauce on top. I then saw the teeny tiny bugs (maybe the size of a poppyseed) crawling around the sides of the bowl. Any idea what they were? Needless to say, the kale made a quick trip to garbage disposal city.

MY OTHER VIDEOS

Speaking of bugs (which made me think of lizards somehow), Bella has become the lizard hunter over here. She goes INSANE for the huge lizards that come out in the spring/summer and chases them in the backyard. I’m horrified for the day that she catches one.

She scared me yesterday morning because I let her outside while I was changing Livi, and when I called her to come in, she wouldn’t.

I pulled out the secret weapon:

“Bell, want some chicken?”

Nothing.

She was finally discovered in a bush, waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting lizard. She picked a lizard over chicken. That’s a big deal.

Today, I’m going to get in a quick HIIT workout and take Livi swimming with some friends and their babies.

Those muffins look amazing, and I LOVE the ingredient list! Definitely bookmarking this recipe 🙂 Can’t wait to try it out! On a less appetizing note, I used to dog sit for my neighbors when they went on their summer vacation, and their dogs usually liked to bring me a little “present,” usually in the form of a chipmunk they had caught. It was pretty horrifying, especially the first time it happened.

Livi’s swimsuit is darling! Those muffins look sooo good. I like using brown rice flour in baked goods. My husband is allergic to nuts so I just limit myself to Justin’s almond butter packets, but I may at some point try experimenting with your recipe using maybe a mix of buckwheat, sorghum, and quinoa flours instead of the almond meal. If you think that would be a baking disaster let me know.

My dog, Chloe (she’s a Jack Russell Terrier), loves to hunt lizards in our backyard. She even likes to eat them too. Yucky. I have to admit, it’s funny to see her getting ready to pounce on her “prey.”

That swimsuit is all kinds of adorable!
I wouldn’t worry too much about Bella and the lizards. My parents dog catches a few every year. It’s disgusting because she likes to throw them around and roll on them. But once she realizes its dead, she’s done playing. Barbaric, yes, but apparently very fun for a dog,
The kale from my dads backyard sometimes has those bugs on the leaves. Gross!

That bathing suit is so cute!! And Andy is the same was as Bella is with lizards, except for bunnies. He goes crazy and paws at the window until we take him outside so he can chase them. Thankfully he never caught one, I don’t think he’d know what to do if he did, probably wait for it to run so he could chase it again. ;p

That bathing suit has to be one of the cutest things I have seen! I love banana muffins. Also banana chocolate chip muffins are pretty fantastic 🙂
Hopefully Bella will never actually catch a lizard! I think I would freak out. Haha.

Hi Gina,
I rarely comment, but the post you wrote about Bikram was really interesting. I was wondering if you could give a range of the calories you typically burn doing zumba (which I’m sure depends on your class that day)?
Thanks and Livi is ADORABLE!

Hi Gina,
I rarely comment, but the post you wrote about Bikram was really interesting. I was wondering if you could give a range of the calories you typically burn doing zumba (which I’m sure depends on your class that day)?
Thanks and Livi is ADORABLE!

I just recently found your blog and had to tell you that I love your cookie cereal recipe! I want to eat it for every meal, no joke. I will be trying the breakfast cookie soon, but it will be hard to top that cereal. Thanks for the recipes!

Sounds like aphids, they come in more than one color (you have probably seen green ones on rose stems).

They infest crops, so your kale may be the product of a dishonest farmer trying to make money off a bad season or just an honest mistake.

I personally wouldn’t buy leafy green veggies from that store for two weeks or so, especially at the DM commissary (in case it was an entire batch of something). That place is a nightmare anyway! I almost got pooped on by a bird in there! Bah.

One of my very first blog recipes that was baked and not cookie dough balls or a Vitamix creation 🙂 were vegan, GF, banana almond muffins! And I made them during the 9 mos we lived in AZ so this post brings me back to those! Yours look awesome!

Gina!
You won’t believe this! I read your post this morning..drooled over the muffins, aww-ed over the bathing suit, and felt really badly for you about the kale (and was grossed out by the bugs!) I just went to make a salad beast for lunch and those bugs were ALL over my romaine-two heads of it! Had to toss it out-now I am having a salad beast minus the lettuce. No idea what they were-but yuck!

Mmm those muffins sound delicious!! I made a Carrot’s and Cake muffin recipe a few months ago and loved it! I need to bring muffins back into my life! Yuck about the bugs on the kale, I would have been WAY freaked out– bugs scare me, especially around food! And that swimsuit is so, so adorable!

Love Livi’s swimsuit!! So adorable! I’ve seen those bugs on kale from stores where I live often. It grosses me out, they are in between every little wrinkle and they are hard to wash off!! It often prevents me from picking up the green goodness 🙁

I love the color and style of Livi’s swimsuit, she’s going to look so cute in it! Where did you get it? I love the swimsuits from Gymboree, especially the ones that are like rash guards on the top…the coverage is great and they’re SPF 50, perfect for our sunny days in Vegas!

I love anything banana, but just hate waiting for the bananas to brown. Especially when my hubby goes through bananas like crazy, so they never have a chance to get brown enough that he’d reject them haha!

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